Ge Wang, Ocarina application for iphone

GPS Table, Placebo Project, 2001

Raymond Loewy, ca. 1948

Marcel Wanders, Knotted Chair, 1995

Philippe Starck, Juicy Salif, 1990

Karim Rashid, 2008

Compass Table, Placebo Project, 2001

Once electronic objects enter people’s homes, they develop private lives, or at least ones that are hidden from human vision. Occasionally we catch a glimpse of this life when objects interfere with each other, or malfunction. Many people believe that mobile phones heat up their ears, or feel their skin tingle when they sit near a TV . . . [w]e are not interested in whether these stories are true or scientific, but we are interested in the narratives people develop to explain and relate to electronic technologies, especially the invisible electro-magnetic waves their electronic objects emit.

“Electro‐draughtExclude

r,”Placebo

Project,200

1

Designers cannot always solve problems, we cannot switch off the vast electromagnetic networks surrounding us all. Although we cannot change reality, we can change people’s perception of it.

“Electro‐draughtExclude

r,”Placebo

Project,200

1

The electromagnetic spectrum includes radio waves, microwaves, infrared light, visible light, ultraviolet light, x-rays, and gamma rays. Visible light, which makes up only a tiny fraction of the electromagnetic spectrum, is the only electromagnetic radiation that humans can perceive with their eyes